President
Growing up just two hours from the Arctic Circle in the far north of Sweden, Stefan Nilsson remembers as a child he was intrigued by stories of the United States from visiting relatives who had moved to our country and made it their home. In college, coming to the U.S. was one of his ambitions.
But fate and a trainee program for engineering and business graduates with Swiss/Swedish Fortune 500 Company ABB would lead him to extensive travels almost everywhere but America. Stefan began his distinguished career designing electric motors just outside Paris, France, where he developed an appetite for fine cuisine and an excitement for travel. He spent the next four years in international sales of metal-forming presses for the aerospace industry, traveling to Asia, Europe, and South America.
“These were formative years where I experienced interactions and negotiations with customers of a wide variety of cultures and languages. It provided me a very good understanding of the complexities involved when business is done between companies from different countries and cultures. When I was offered a chance to transfer to the United States in 1985, it was an easy decision to make.”
Over the past 20 years with ABB, Inc., Stefan has held a variety of leadership positions in sales, business development, business operations and general management, with a focus that gradually shifted from aerospace to automotive, and culminated with the U.S. Robotics Division, where he served as vice president before taking the helm at DMI.
Prior to graduating with a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Lulea University of Technology and an Executive MBA in International Business Management from the Uppsala University, both in Sweden, Stefan was wild about sports. “If it involved a ball or a puck, I played it.” He was especially drawn to team sports, including hockey, soccer and team handball. He even coached his son’s soccer team through middle and high school. Stefan utilizes a “team player” philosophy in his approach to leading DMI.
“I think of my role as that of a team builder; a consensus builder. You develop a common understanding of the objectives, and engage, encourage and empower your people to develop their own motivation to achieve a common goal.”
Stefan and his wife Kerstin have two adult children.